Heartfelt Awakening: The Decision That Changed Everything

Can a single emotional breakdown change the course of your life? Join us as Anita shares the heartfelt and challenging journey that led us to leave the United States and reconsider our future. We recount the critical moments and personal awakenings that caused us to take a leap of faith. From the temporary haven provided by Eric's dad in Oklahoma to the promising yet ultimately unsuitable job placement in Utah, Anita's realization became the catalyst for envisioning a new path. This episode delves into the profound impact of listening to one's heart and the courage it takes to pivot toward a more fulfilling direction.

Here is the meditation that Anita tried to have this realization. By Rising Higher
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tpeP3SjuyM)

In the latter half, we reflect on our return to Taiwan and the transformative power of reconnecting with roots. Embracing a holistic, community-oriented lifestyle, we highlight the stark contrast between the cultural norms of the United States and the deep familial bonds in Taiwan. Discover how these experiences shaped our vision for Taiwanica and inspired us to expand our team and enhance our digital presence. As we move back to Taiwan in September, we invite listeners in the Taichung area to connect and join us in this exciting new chapter. Please tune in for insights, personal stories, and an invitation to be part of our evolving journey.

Chapters

• 0:00 Taiwanica's Escape Plan and Spiritual Realizations
• 16:48 Coming Home to Taiwan
• 24:50 Expanding Taiwanica

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is episode 90, talking about Taiwanica's biggest escape plan. Hello everybody, my name is Anita. Long time no see you guys, and today is not a solo episode anymore. We have our very special and shiny host today. Let's welcome Eric Matthews.

Speaker 2: 0:24

Hello, hello everybody. I'm sure you're used to hearing my voice, since you've heard it for a little while, but it's so good to hear Anita's voice once again, and not only that, but to be together once more. Oh, darling, yes. So now that we are here, we have a big set of news that we want to share with you all for Taiwanica's future and today's episode. But before we dive in, anita really wants to share some of the highlights. What are those highlights?

Speaker 1: 1:00

those highlights will be personal awakenings and personal realization about life, backgrounds and past. Hence why we make this escape plan and also we would like to describe our vision for Taiwanica in the future. So today is going to be a very profound, yet fun, yet meaningful episode for everybody.

Speaker 2: 1:31

Yes, and if you really want to check out all the details about what we're talking about, we have been adding a blog recently to our podcast, so you can check that out in the link in the description below at ericandanitacom, as well as transcripts. So if you are a reader, you can check that out there as well, right, yeah? So we're going to go ahead and dive on in today, because it's a really important message. We are leaving the United States.

Speaker 1: 1:59

Right.

Speaker 2: 2:01

And that is all being generated because we had some great spiritual realizations that I think Anita wants to share, hers, because that was the igniter of everything that has happened over the last few months. Anita, go ahead and take it away.

Speaker 1: 2:19

It's got to be a long story. Everybody sit tight. Go get water. Whatever you need for the next Can.

Speaker 2: 2:24

I get a dumping. Oh, not yet too.

Speaker 1: 2:27

Too soon, too soon so, um, personal, personally, I have to, you know, speak for myself for a second. I have to put uh eric out of the picture bye for a while, but he will still be here.

Speaker 1: 2:44

So a few months ago we have the announcement that we are going to move somewhere else and at that point of life we me personally, I'm sorry, me personally I was very lost about where I should go next. So if I was, you know, if I was very lost about personally how to step out my comfort zone to go to the next step, don't even mention about the whole idea moving the whole family to somewhere else. And we are. We were very grateful for Eric's dad who has a property here in Oklahoma. So he's very generous. He and the wife and his wife Lisa was very generous in offering us to stay in their properties for a few months until we figured it out. And in between we moved here since May in the beginning of May, that's right this year and in between, in the beginning of May, that's right this year and in between we got a job offer Thanks to Eric. He did a lot of research and he's very persuasive. He persuades the coach, our leader, leader, coach.

Speaker 2: 4:03

He's one of those names. Yes, he's kind of like leader coach.

Speaker 1: 4:04

He's one of those names. Yes, he's like kind of like leader and coach to give us job to work this company and officially hired us like coaches, both for Eric and Anita me.

Speaker 2: 4:19

So that's your name.

Speaker 1: 4:22

What do you think? I'm like Anna or something.

Speaker 2: 4:24

Anita Inside joke.

Speaker 1: 4:29

joke want to know more, find out later anyways. So we were very excited, we were psyched about, you know, this job and we, we, we loved it. Um, we started doing this job ever since june and then we were more, you know, devoted to this job and it comes with a sense of achievement and fulfillment and we were, like, considered to work full-time. But that requires us to move to the headquarter, which is another state.

Speaker 1: 4:59

The state is Utah, and at that point I was like, yeah, this is probably the highest um career, um, achievement achievement for for me, because that's what I've been dreaming about me doing, like run away from taiwan and make a living outside of the country, you know, outside of my hometown. I went to America to be a worker, official worker. Not only that, I was also doing the dream job that I've been wanted to do for so many years and we were so excited because we were like having a plan and stuff slot, looking at houses, and one day, for whatever reason, I was just having a uh oh, I had a huge fight with this. Uh, so sad. So I went to another room for myself. Um, I just started crying. I had no reason. I based on the situation. I I knew that wasn't because of the fight.

Speaker 2: 6:21

It's not because of the fight, definitely not because I'm innocent you I'm a really good, you just hold your phone and sit there yes, ma'am, I'm a pretty baby so I was having a emotional breakdown and all I feel is this pure heartache, their heartache.

Speaker 1: 6:43

There's no other ways. I could find the word, maybe because I wasn't aware of those words. Um exist yet the emotion exists here, but I just feel this pure heartache. I feel so sad, my heart hurts. I have never felt like this before. And then the next day I told Eric says this is not what I wanted to do.

Speaker 1: 7:11

And I have been very intuitive. I have always been a very intuitive person and that has already happened a few times in in in my uh life, like when something is completely wrong, even though it appear consciously as a you know wonderful things to do, but my body will always have the rejection reaction you know sometimes could be my stomach, just, you know, just feeling sick or some other you know physical reaction. That's my intuitive um sign telling me that's not, that's a no, don't do that. So that's why I realized that, hey, this heartache is a red flag. It's not just a sign, it's a red flag for me not to do it. And I have no idea because, like I said at that point, I was so proud of myself of making this far and aries have been. Eric was a very understanding person, so that night we had a really really, really, really long walk and we chat and then what I really want is to go home, meaning taiwan again. Consciously, it doesn't have any logic behind that but how did you realize that?

Speaker 1: 8:42

when I was talking about the idea moving back to taiwan and eric asked me, like why, what kind of things that you can do in taiwan? And I realized that thing's super simple, which is I wanted to have my son spending time with my, my dad. My dad is, you know, right now he's getting older. Of course, all the parents are, everybody.

Speaker 2: 9:05

It's getting old I just got older um oh, I'm older again. Now wait for it, you don't need to, I just got older um, you know, I just this heartache was coming from.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Uh, my, my, my love for my dad was very deep and I grew up as a as who I am has it's all because I have the foundation between me and my dad. My dad was a very. He wasn't very he's not very educational, he didn't get to like schools and stuff, but he is very resourceful, as you said, who tells you everything you need to know.

Speaker 2: 9:47

And supportive.

Speaker 1: 9:48

Yeah, and supportive in his way. He's a very quiet man, but you know, in his way, you know. So I wanted to be recreated, as you said, for Kaya as well. So I just realized, when I was just talking about this idea, when I was admit, I would just want to go home. Then I say to eric, I say this is a huge, huge uh decision to make. So please give me a day, uh one, and two days after that I'm still in this denial, like I don't know. I, I really want to.

Speaker 1: 10:45

I really think moving to utah, getting this full-time job, is really, really the things I'm supposed to be doing. But every time I think about moving back to taiwan, I have, you know again, pure joy and relief. So I did a meditation. Um, eric's really good at doing meditation, that's his lifestyle. I, I do meditation too. We're doing two different things and I did this meditation that help us, help me to realize. Basically, you just go to your subconscious having a conversation with this spiritual guide. Um, I had a conversation with the spiritual guide. Um, I asked her that there was a lady. I asked her like is this the right decision to make? Is it or am I just trying to escape from the stress or escape from the responsibility of being the full-time worker here in the United States? Or am I escape because I still haven't received my green card? And then she didn't say anything. Instead, she gave me two gifts. So I hold those gifts and I don't know what the I saw the gifts.

Speaker 2: 12:14

What were they?

Speaker 1: 12:16

The first one was a bunch of seeds, like tree seeds kind of, and the other is a blade kind of, and the other is a blade and this blade is like, um you know, they have really delicate um wooden?

Speaker 1: 12:36

I don't know how to call it carving, carving, sort of like art, like this. Um. So I was holding those, those two things in my hand, and the meditation there was a guided meditation. And the voice says just look at those gifts and let the answer come to you. And I sat there, I was like I have. You know, I have zero idea what those are for. And I just sit there and all of a sudden I heard a voice. I look at the seed and the voice that I heard was in order to go further, you have to go back to your roots and the blade. The message was same. I heard the voice. The voice said just be the trailblazer, as you always are. So those are my huge awakening, a wake-up call, because that's exactly the same reason why I resist the idea to move back to Taiwan.

Speaker 1: 13:38

For this long, I was afraid this whole idea that I was trying to make my life different by leaving, leaving Taiwan to the USA. I wanted to make something different and this new job opportunity, it is what I wanted to. You know, that's what I always wanted. That's the main reason why I moved here in the USA. But I wasn't. I couldn't go further than that because from the beginning I was escaped Taiwan to the USA. So this whole time I thought, if I go back to Taiwan, I was escape from USA. It turns out it wasn't. It was the beginning.

Speaker 1: 14:31

How I started my journal was putting my heart in a wrong intention. That's why me personally been suffering so much, you know, including, uh, the things we mentioned about um before, like all the cost living in here is very high. Uh, you know, it's really hard to do certain things, um, still also a lot of things we didn't share to public. You know, that's because I didn't put my heart in the right intention. And the other fear for me, moving back to Taiwan, is, you know, this is kind of like the societal pressure because people always say, you know, you know Taiwan doesn't have any chances for you to develop whatever you wanted to develop, and hence why a lot of people you know, go to different countries to find a job or, you know, develop their, develop their own personal career and stuff like that. Most, most case are like that, like they, they really can make different uh, make it different uh, by doing so. And we heard a lot of people saying, oh, if someone used to study or have job and now in another country and now going back. It's because they're you know, they, they fail, they, they have to run away and flee away from their reality and come back home.

Speaker 1: 16:00

And turns out that was my biggest fear. Um, I don't want it to be recognized, um, by my family, by society, by even by myself, as a failure because I didn't, you know, I didn't do the things that I wanted to do. You know, and that's why the blade was so powerful, because I have always been the trailblazer and I don't, I didn't recognize it, I just always trying to do the things. That's different, because I wanted to be different before. That's how I see myself as a trailblazer just do something different from the most of people are doing.

Speaker 1: 16:48

But now that I realize there has deeper meaning to it being a trailblazer doesn't mean you have to be always standing long. You can also go back to your hometown to have the connection being the leader, creating things with people. Again, those are the things I have tried my best to run away from. I always feel like I don't need friends, I don't need supports, I don't need team, I don't need all those things. I can do it all by myself Because I'm great, I can create something.

Speaker 1: 17:26

And now that I realize I have to go back, looking for the roots, finding myself, the connection with my own roots, either as my home town, my home country, my home, my family, my people, um, my friend. So that's the realization. And once I realize it, and I think I am very grateful for everything have happened so far, even if wasn't for those, I wouldn't have this deep, deep realization, because I was planning to just run away from Taiwan for as long as I can, probably until the day I die. I would say myself, I said it to myself, I'm never going back. But this time, because of those realization, and I have decided with Eric that we are both, as a family, going back to Taiwan.

Speaker 2: 18:33

What a beautiful story.

Speaker 1: 18:35

Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 18:37

It's great to see that you have had such a deep realization about who you want to become, because it just goes to show that it's not an instantaneous process. Things that you want to do that you think in your mind currently may help you strive to achieve some of those goals and be able to have some of the things that you want to have. But at the same time, when you're striving towards those certain things, other things start to pop up that your mind just could not even think of, and when those things happen, you're given new choices and you realize that all this time you're following what your mind is thinking about, but when you get to real critical moments of your life, the best point to think about is not from your mind, but it's from your heart, and that's where intention really comes from. It's a heart choice, not a mind choice, and so it's more of a like what do I choose to do? Rather than what is being decided for me based on the habits that I have and the thought patterns that I've had previously, for me based on the habits that I have and the thought patterns that I've had previously. And so hearing your story is a perfect example of that, because you went through a very big journey of going where you thought would be the right place going to the United States, outside of Taiwan, because that's where you wanted to go. And when you went through that journey, you thought about the things that you had and what you could achieve and what was being offered to you. You had the opportunities of living in the United States, you had the opportunities to get a new job and you did certain things while you were living here. But now that you had all those things, something else popped up, something that your heart ached for, and that aching was there the entire time, but you didn't listen to it because you didn't know how. And now you realize that whenever it happens again, and for everyone who's listening to this, if you haven't ached in your heart in a certain aspect of your life, it might be a good idea to listen to it, and so what we'll do is, if you're interested, we'll add a link in the description below of the same exact meditation that anita did to listen to her spiritual guide, so that you too can also give it a try and see if you have something resonate with you about some sort of aspect of your life.

Speaker 2: 21:01

But the thing that's really important here that I want to share is simply Taiwanica. We're said in the title of this episode to escape from the United States, and the thing is, is that we're escaping is saying we're escaping from the pattern that we created? And that pattern that we created is not only only the things that we have thought, but also the pattern that has been around us in the united states. There's a pattern about if you keep on striving and the social economics, then you will sooner or later be successful. And this is true if you go and get a job and work full time, you will sooner or later have enough money to have the things that you want. And when it comes to this idealism of living the American dream, that's something that people want.

Speaker 2: 21:55

But both Anita and I came to the realization that's not what we want. The American dream is beautiful and it's worthy to have and it's suitable for certain people out there, especially for anybody who might be listening. The american dream might be the thing for you, but we realized it is not the thing for us and so we thought, well, where's going to be the place that is for us and taiwanica and everyone who's listening to this right now? You have been a big supporter in pushing us to move back to taiwan, because we've realized that the people that we really care about, the people we want to be around, the environment we want to be in, the places that we want to go, are all in or around Taiwan. That's one of the biggest things that really has strived us to make this decision, because Taiwan's great and we think that the things that we are offering uh are going to be appreciated and uh understood, based on what we have done so far.

Speaker 2: 23:00

So I think that's one of the biggest reasons why I think moving to Taiwan is, you know, besides what everything Anita said is going to be just a, you know, icing on the cake. You know we're doing things that are great for us individually, but also for everybody else as well. So kind of gives us this holistic or entire point of view. It's not just about what is it for me anymore, it's about what is it for me and everyone else, and that's something that I think we have lost when living in the United States, because we were just trying to survive in this world and we have become very successful with it, but at the same time, if we keep on going this way in the united states, we would just only be still what is it for us? And we're not really focusing on what is it for everybody else and everybody else that we really care about. You know, there's a few exceptions, but the majority of them are in or around taiwan.

Speaker 1: 23:59

So that's one of the biggest things I think really makes Taiwanica so great is that we have developed a great community of all of you all around those areas, and we're striving to keep on improving everyone who is inspired by the words that we share yes, so back to the, the one key point that I mentioned earlier when I, when I was sharing the story, which is the connection that will bring us to the second part, which is we are, you know, right now we just have a lot of projects in our hands and then, when we go back to Taiwan, we are going to start our new project, which is to flourish Taiwanica.

Speaker 1: 24:50

So we are going to have Taiwanica have a really cool team. We are going to recruit new members, because just the two of us is not not enough, because we, like we mentioned, we have a lot of things we would like to say which we were telling you. We will be telling you guys, um, what are those things? Uh, but the first thing, the biggest things, we wanted to executive executive is To have a team for our Taiwanica um.

Speaker 1: 25:22

You know, we realized again. Why are you laughing?

Speaker 2: 25:26

Executive.

Speaker 1: 25:31

It's for us. You know we have great ideas. We are, you know, enjoy talking, but we need the team to support us to do to do the works to make this Taiwanica more aware, yeah, expansive.

Speaker 2: 25:47

Yeah, expansive, to do the works to make this, uh, taiwanica more aware, yeah, expansive. Have people have, have people know about it, because we don't have any idea how to do marketing. It's just the truth it's just and social media is uh beyond us. Uh, we tried and you know it kind of works.

Speaker 2: 26:04

But we know that bringing people in who are good at this and who like our content and want to also learn from what we know, you know it can be a all around beneficial thing for everybody, because you're helping Taiwanica expand and help other people learn what you have learned here, as well as helping us expand Taiwanica expand and help other people learn what you have learned here, as well as helping us expand Taiwanica to a level that we just cannot do on our own yes, so we will be having those people that we need and so so far we can think about, as the marketing, maybe a camera guy, you know, doing the recording, uh, helping us set up the camera and do those kind of things.

Speaker 1: 26:49

So just, um, break the news to everybody. If you know anybody or who or you know when you're listening you're interested in doing this job like feel free to contact us on taiwanica instagram or email taiwanicapodcast at gmailcom right and um, then we'll talk about what.

Speaker 1: 27:07

How can we create from there? You know, and today is a big 90 uh episode, so, um, we are going to have a lot, of, a lot more 90s to come. Um, so, uh, yeah, today is just breaking the news for everybody we're recruiting new people. So if you're interested or you know anybody might want to do the project, tell them about this information and, you know, contact us.

Speaker 2: 27:38

Anita is saying it very humbly and I think it's adorable, but, in all honesty, taiwanica is at that point where it's time to make a big difference and we want you to do it. So if you think you have the ability to help a podcast like ours to expand, you think you have great. If you have great ideas that you think this would really help taiwanica to go in the right direction, then feel free to join us. We want you to be here with us, uh, so come join the team.

Speaker 1: 28:10

We would love to have you here yes, and we will also still doing the teaching um. Right now, we have our website, um arrogantanitacom. Yep, so we will be having more. Yeah, we will be having more classes online. We already have a certain amount of students there and now we wanted to expand it there. Right now, the thing is we still have the job. So, even though we didn't turn to uh um, we didn't become the full-time worker for this company, they are still very, very understanding of our life circumstances, so we're still working for those uh, the clients who are from united states. So we will need about a few weeks to figure out our situation, but in the future, there will be um to figure out situation and figure out the schedule. But in the future, we will be having a lot of webinars and speeches and online classes available for everybody yeah, there will be lots of little things for you to try.

Speaker 2: 29:25

Once again, all of that will be on ericananitacom, very easy to find. You can go there now to check out our podcast episodes, the classes that we have available currently, and also any blog posts. All our blog posts are currently written in English, and so you can practice your English by reading those. Yeah, but there's going to be lots of great new things ahead. Get excited, because this is going to be a game changer.

Speaker 1: 29:54

Yeah, we're very excited to see you guys. We are going back to Taiwan in the beginning of September. Yeah, surprise.

Speaker 2: 30:02

Next two weeks will be in Taiwan. We will be living in taichung, uh.

Speaker 1: 30:07

So if you're in that area and you want to meet up, you can definitely send us a message too or even you were just you know, somewhere else you could send us, to send us a message too, of course, of course, right uh, all right.

Speaker 2: 30:21

Well, that's it. So, that being said, your taiwanica podcast is going to get local, so get excited and we will see you in the next episode, which will be recorded in taiwan thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1: 30:38

Thank you, guys, for tuning in to today's episode and thank you so much for supporting us along the way. We've been very grateful and get excited for more, more fun episode coming your way. See you, guys, next time okay, bye.